DUO CONNECTOR PATIENT CABLE
A patient cable has a duo sensor connector having a first socket section and a second socket section. The first socket section is configured to removably attach a two-wavelength sensor. The second socket section in conjunction with the first socket section is configured to removably attach a multiple wavelength sensor in lieu of the two-wavelength sensor. A circuit housed in the duo sensor connector converts emitter array drive signals adapted for the multiple wavelength sensor into back-to-back emitter drive signals adapted for the two-wavelength sensor when attached.
The present application claims priority benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) from U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/846,260, filed Sep. 20, 2006, entitled “Duo Connector Patient Cable,” which is incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONPulse oximetry provides a noninvasive procedure for measuring the oxygen status of circulating blood and has gained rapid acceptance in a wide variety of medical applications, including surgical wards, intensive care and neonatal units, general wards, and home care and physical training. A pulse oximetry system has a physiological sensor applied to a patient, a monitor, and a patient cable connecting the sensor and the monitor. The sensor has light emitters and a detector, which are attached to a tissue site, such as a finger. The patient cable transmits emitter drive signals from the monitor to the sensor. The emitters respond to the drive signals so as to transmit light into the tissue site. The detector is responsive to the emitted light after attenuation by pulsatile blood flowing in the tissue site, generating a detector signal to the monitor. The monitor processes the detector signal to provide a numerical readout of physiological parameters such as oxygen saturation (SpO2) and pulse rate.
A physiological measurement system can also be a multiple parameter monitor and a multiple wavelength sensor that provide enhanced measurement capabilities as compared with conventional pulse oximetry. The physiological measurement system allows the measurement of blood constituents and related parameters in addition to oxygen saturation and pulse rate, such as carboxyhemoglobin (HbCO) and methemoglobin (HbMet) to name a few.
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A duo connector patient cable is advantageously configured to accommodate either of two types of mating sensor connectors including a conventional connector for a pulse oximetry sensor and a multiple wavelength sensor connector. Further, a duo connector patient cable advantageously converts drive signals for array configured emitters into drive signals for back-to-back configured emitters. In additional, a duo connector patient cable advantageously reconfigures connector pinouts for a multiple wavelength sensor to optimize signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) performance.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIGS. 4A-F are perspective, top, front, side, retainer hinged-open front and retainer hinged-open side views of a duo connector, respectively;
FIGS. 5A-C are a front view of a duo connector, a front view of a monitor connector and a schematic of a duo connector patient cable, respectively;
FIGS. 8A-C are perspective views of duo connector assemblies;
FIGS. 9A-D are top, perspective, front and side views, respectively, of a duo connector socket;
FIGS. 10A-D are top, front, side cross sectional and side exploded views, respectively, of a detector socket pin;
FIGS. 11A-C are top, front and side cross sections views, respectively, of a detector socket pin shroud;
FIGS. 11D-E are front and side views, respectively, of a detector socket pin shield;
FIGS. 12A-E are top, side cross sectional, bottom, front and side views, respectively, of a duo connector shell overmolded on a socket;
FIGS. 13A-E are top, side cross sectional, bottom, front and bottom views, respectively, of a duo connector retainer;
FIGS. 14A-E are top, side, perspective, front and side views, respectively, of a duo connector hinge pin; and
FIGS. 15A-D are top, side cross sectional, front and side views, respectively, of a duo connector strain relief.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
FIGS. 4A-F illustrate a duo connector 400 having a front 401 and a back 402. The front 401 has a socket 900 that accommodates either of two mating sensor plugs 15, 1800 (
FIGS. 5A-C illustrate a duo connector patient cable 300. In particular, the socket 900 (
As shown in FIGS. 5A-C, the duo connector pinouts 520 are divided into pins 1-9, associated with a first socket section 901 and pins 10-17 associated with a second socket section 902. When a SpO2 sensor 10 (FIGS. 3A-B) is inserted into the first socket section 901, the monitor detects the SpO2 sensor from the “1-wire comm” line connecting the sensor side (pin 4) 520 and the monitor side (pin 15) 510. The monitor then sets the “control” line on pin 8 510 so that the circuit board 700 converts the first two LED cathode drive signals (pins 3, 13) 510 and LED anode drive signals (pins 1, 11) 510 to a red cathode drive signal (pin 2) 520 and an IR cathode drive signals (pin 3) 520.
Also as shown in FIGS. 5A-C, when a multiple wavelength sensor 20 (FIGS. 3A-B) is inserted into the socket sections 901, 902, the monitor detects the sensor from the “1-wire comm” line connecting the sensor side (pin 4) 520 and the monitor side (pin 15) 510. The monitor then sets the “control” line (pin 8) 510 so that the circuit board 700 grounds the now unused drive signal lines (pins 2, 3) 520. That is, for the higher performance multiple wavelength sensor 20 (FIGS. 3A-B), the detector signals (pins 5, 9) 520 on the first socket section 901 are advantageously isolated from the drive signals (pins 10-17) 520 on the second socket section 902. This reduces the possibility of cross-talk from drive lines to detector lines. Further, the detector signals (pins 5, 9) 522 are separately shielded 1150, and the shields 1150 are grounded to a cable inner shield (pin 6) 524, providing further noise immunity for the detector signal.
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FIGS. 7A-B illustrate an adapter circuit 600 and a corresponding circuit board 700. As shown in
Also shown in
FIGS. 8A-C illustrate duo connector assemblies including a wiring assembly 801, a shielded wiring assembly 803 and a shell assembly 805. As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
FIGS. 9A-D illustrate a socket 900 having a front 910, a back 920, socket sections 901, 902 proximate the front 910, socket apertures 930 arranged in rows and extending through the socket sections 901, 902 and pin holders 940 proximate the back 920 also arranged in rows corresponding to the socket apertures 930. Each socket aperture 930 accepts a socket pin 1050 (
FIGS. 10A-D illustrate a socket pin 1050 and a shielded detector socket 1000 utilizing the socket pin 1050. The socket pin 1050 has a crimp 1052 for attaching wires and a body 1054 for receiving a mating connector pin. In an embodiment, the socket pin 1050 is a phosphor bronze with gold over nickel plating. A detector socket 1000 has a socket pin 1050, an insulating shroud 1100 and a shield 1150. The two detector lines 522 (
FIGS. 11A-C illustrate the detector socket shroud 1100 and shield 1150. The shroud 1100 accepts a socket pin body 1054 (
FIGS. 12A-E illustrate a duo connector shell 1200 that houses a shielded wiring assembly 803 (
FIGS. 13A-E illustrate a duo connector retainer 1300 configured to hinge to the shell 1200 (FIGS. 12A-E) so as to removably retain sensor connectors 15, 1800 (
FIGS. 14A-E illustrate a duo connector hinge pin 1400 that rotatably attaches the retainer 1300 (FIGS. 13A-E) to the shell 1200 (FIGS. 12A-E). In particular, a pair of pins 1400 insert through retainer apertures 1220 (FIGS. 12A-E) and shell apertures 1320 (FIGS. 13A-E) from opposite directions and are fixedly latched together. The pin 1400 has a generally round head 1410, a cylindrical shaft 1420 extending generally normal to the head 1410, and a partially cylindrical latching portion 1430 extending from the end of the shaft 1420 distal the head 1410. A plurality of teeth 1432 are disposed on the latching portion 1430. The teeth 1432 are configured to slide past corresponding teeth on an opposite pin 1400 in one direction only, so as to latch together opposite facing pins. So disposed, the pin heads 1410 hold the shell 1200 (FIGS. 12A-E) relative to the retainer 1300 (FIGS. 13A-E) as the retainer rotates about the pin shafts 1420.
FIGS. 15A-D illustrate a bend relief 1500 that protects the cable from bending forces and the cable wires and corresponding solder joints from pulling forces. The bend relief 1500 is a generally tapered cylinder having a head 1510, a tail 1520, a front 1530, a back 1540 and an axial cavity 1550 extending the length of the bend relief. In an embodiment, the bend relief 1500 is overmolded on the patient cable 350 (
A duo connector patient cable has been disclosed in detail in connection with various embodiments. These embodiments are disclosed by way of examples only and are not to limit the scope of the claims that follow. One of ordinary skill in art will appreciate many variations and modifications.
Claims
1. In a patient monitoring system having a sensor configured to transmit at least two wavelengths of optical radiation into a tissue site and detect the radiation after attenuation by pulsatile blood flowing within the tissue site, a patient monitor configured to process a signal responsive to the detected radiation and generate at least one parameter indicative of a patient physical condition, a patient cable for interconnecting the sensor and patient monitor comprising:
- a monitor connector configured to mate with a corresponding connector in a patient monitor;
- a sensor connector configured to mate with either of two types of sensor connectors; and
- a cable interconnecting the monitor connector and the sensor connector so as to transmit drive signals originating from the monitor to the sensor and to transmit sensor signals originating from the sensor to the monitor.
2. The patient cable according to claim 1 further comprising:
- a first socket section configured to mate with a two-wavelength pulse oximeter sensor; and
- a second socket section configured, along with the first socket section, to mate with a multiple wavelength sensor capable of transmitting more than two wavelengths of optical radiation into a tissue site.
3. The patient cable according to claim 2 further comprising a circuit for converting multiple wavelength sensor drive signals into two-wavelength sensor drive signals.
4. The patient cable according to claim 3 wherein the circuit comprises:
- a circuit board housed in the sensor connector; and
- a plurality of switches mounted to the circuit board,
- wherein the switches route portions of array drive signals generated by the monitor to back-to-back drive signal pins in communications with the two-wavelength sensor.
5. The patient cable according to claim 4:
- wherein the back-to-back signal drive pins are housed in the first socket section, and
- wherein the array drive signals for the multiple wavelength sensor are communicated to the second section;
6. The patient cable according to claim 5 further comprising:
- detector signal pins housed in the first socket section in communications with either the two-wavelength sensor or the multiple wavelength sensor when attached,
- wherein drive signal pins housed in the first section are grounded when the multiple wavelength sensor is attached so as to improve noise isolation of the detector signal.
7. A patient cable method comprising the steps of:
- providing a duo sensor connector having a first socket section and a second socket section;
- removably attaching a first sensor having a conventional connector to the first socket section for making pulse oximetry measurements; and
- removably attaching a second sensor having a mating duo connector to the first and second socket sections for making blood parameter measurements in additional to pulse oximetry measurements.
8. The patient cable method according to claim 7 comprising the further steps of:
- communicating first drive signals to the first socket section; and
- communicating second drive signals to the second socket section,
- wherein a portion of the second drive signals are routed to the first socket section as the first drive signals when the first sensor is attached to the duo sensor connector.
9. The patient cable method according to claim 8 comprising the further step of converting second drive signals from a multiple parameter patient monitor configured for an LED array to first drive signals configured for back-to-back LEDs when the first sensor is attached to the duo sensor connector.
10. The patient cable method according to claim 9 comprising the further step of switching signals between pins in the first socket section and the second socket section within the duo sensor connector.
11. The patient cable method according to claim 10 comprising the further step of grounding drive signal pins in the first socket section when the second sensor is attached to the duo sensor connector so as to provide noise isolation of detector signal pins in the first socket section.
12. A patient cable for connecting a patient monitor to an optical sensor comprising:
- a duo connector means for establishing communications between a monitor and one of a two-wavelength sensor having a conventional connector and a multiple wavelength sensor connector; and
- an information means for identifying which of the sensors is attached to the duo connector means.
13. The patient cable according to claim 12 further comprising:
- a switching means for converting array drive signals from the monitor to back-to-back drive signals for the two-wavelength sensor; and
- a housing means for mounting the switching means with the duo connector means.
14. The patient cable according to claim 13 further comprising a configuration means for achieving improved noise isolation for a sensor signal when the multiple wavelength is attached to the duo connector means.
15. The patient cable according to claim 14 further comprising an overmold means for housing the duo connector means and the switching means and for creating a bend relief means.
Type: Application
Filed: Sep 20, 2007
Publication Date: Mar 20, 2008
Patent Grant number: 8315683
Inventors: Ammar Al-Ali (Tustin, CA), Yassir Abdul-Hafiz (Irvine, CA), Kevin Forest (Rancho Santa Margarita, CA)
Application Number: 11/858,818
International Classification: A61B 5/00 (20060101);